Anyone out there ever rotate your tires? I was kidding around with a friend and then thought more about it. I wonder if it would make the tires last longer?

rydabyk

12-10-2008, 02:05 AM

On my DF touring bke I would usually rotate them after finishing any self-contained tour. I feel like it did add some life to them.
Walt

byegad

12-10-2008, 04:32 AM

On two wheels it's generally a bad idea to use a worn tyre on the front. Tyres p*nct*re more easily the more worn they get and a front blow out is a thing to avoid!

If you rotate before there is any sign of wear you will maybe avoid spending money for a while, but when you do need to spend it will be for two tyres.

I leave the tyres alone until the rear needs replacing, then buy a new tyre, fit that to the front and the old front goes to the back. That way the front tyre is always the best of the pair and I don't end up with a ten year old tyre of the front of my ten year old bike!

rydabyk

12-10-2008, 06:06 AM

Oh, don't get me wrong, I would never put a noticably worn tire back on the front!!!

legs_larry

12-10-2008, 06:31 AM

I have on occasion swapped the front tyres over, but I don't think it made a great deal of difference, which is to say that the unswapped front tyres both wore down to the Anti-Fascist Protection layer within about sixty miles of the 2006 South Bucks Winter Warmer.

Bah!

georgec

12-10-2008, 07:17 AM

I just swapped front tires on my Q. The first fifty miles went fine, but I will now be watching for the dreaded Anti-Fascist Protection layer. <G>

Old_Stuntman

12-10-2008, 10:45 AM

How about a three way swap. Okay, now that just sounds bad, doesn't it? Let's just say, swap ALL three tires. How's that?

rydabyk

12-10-2008, 11:15 AM

How about a three way swap. Okay, now that just sounds bad, doesn't it? Let's just say, swap ALL three tires. How's that?

I can't believe I started this! So, I guess nobody has really tried it? I have a different rear than my fronts so I'm out. I love my Big Apple. But I still thought it made sense and was worth the question.

Mickey

12-11-2008, 08:46 PM

The X5 has cambered front tires and I run Scorchers on all three wheels and went through two complete sets in the first twelve months. I swap the two front tyres over as the wear is noticeably offset on those tyres. My first set lasted about 2500km and the second set went for approximately 5500km, with the difference being due to the amount of high speed sliding and cornering I did whilst having fun with the first set. With the second set I rode with a mind to getting as much out of the tyres as I could and very little riding other than the 32km rural commute. Without swapping the tyres over, they would have lasted only about a further 500km, i.e., 2000km and 3000km respectively.

Interestingly the rear tyre failed at the same time as the front tyres on both sets, with all three tyres failing within 100km of each other on both occasions. The failures were by each of the tyres developing a bulge in the road contact area. Because of that I suspect that doing a three wheel swap would make little difference, possibly because of the lower loading (usually) on the rear wheel. If the rear tyre had failed earlier I might be tempted to swap over all three but that was not the case.

Cheers,
Mickey

Custom Jeffson road touring bike
Greenspeed X5

ElSobrante

12-11-2008, 09:13 PM

I can't believe I started this! So, I guess nobody has really tried it? I have a different rear than my fronts so I'm out. I love my Big Apple. But I still thought it made sense and was worth the question.

I believe different tires will wear differently, and provide more or less benefit to rotating from side to side. A skinny high pressure tire will wear in a very narrow band, and you may gain some extra life by swapping them frequently, But that would be a lot of extra work. And if you waited to swap sides after seeing a noticeable off-center wear pattern, the resulting tire contact patch will be asymmetrical to the ground, and may still wear faster as a result.

My 1.5" Marathon Racers have over 2,000 miles on them and the wear is so even that I wouldn't go to the trouble of swapping sides for a miniscule evening of wear.

Quite a few of us have different rear tires from the front, so we don't have the opportunity to consider front to back. And my rear Primo Comet is beginning to look like it could last for 7 or 8 years easily, about twice what my front tires will last. If you are riding in road debris and wearing out the right tire faster than the others, then rotating could make sense.

Jhayes

12-11-2008, 09:41 PM

My front tires are showing minor wear evenly across the tire, rear tire has shown no discernable wear in 1700 miles. No need to rotate the fronts, never need to do anytying on the rear unless it gets bit by a croc, and there are few if any crocs in Iowa.

BikeEguy

12-11-2008, 10:13 PM

I don't rotate my tires because the front 20" tires wear in the center of the tread. However, I have a friend with a Kett with cambered wheels on the rear and his tread wear is on the inside of the tread and he rotates his rear tires. The cambered tires seem to wear faster.